LEVERAGING FAME

FOR SOCIAL GOOD

By KYAW THU
2015 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee
Presented at the 57th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Lecture Series
1 September 2015, Manila, Philippines

My Name is Kyaw Thu. I was a renowned actor in Myanmar. But now, I

am known as an actor for funeral undertakings. I am an undertaker who
sees to the final journey of the deceased who cannot afford funeral
services.
I love what I am doing. From what I have witnessed and experienced in
life, I now have a better understanding about the value of life. Whether
you are rich or poor, famous or not, you will have to walk this way
without your attachments, your wealth and your popularity. All that you
can bring along is good merits. Death is the destination we all share. It is
inevitable. No one has ever escaped it. Im no longer afraid to face my
own mortality. Im grateful for being able to offer the free funeral
services to ease the sorrows, miseries, grief and hardships of bereaved
families.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

The dead in Myanmar:

In urban areas like Yangon, poor people cannot bury their dead unless
they have good support systems. This is because funeral costs have
become extremely expensive. Government hospitals and cemeteries
provide this basic service, but for a fee. Also, funeral service providers
in Yangon usually expect to be paid in full at the time of the funeral.
Adding to the high cost is the transportation of the dead from the
hospitals and urban areas to the burial places. Many of the cemeteries
are now located far away from the center of the city since the
government decided to relocate them in the mid-1990s.
Depending on the quality of the casket, burial vault and other things,
traditional funeral and burial costs in Myanmar could be anywhere from
a low of $5,000 or to an amount exceeding $10,000. If no services to
commemorate the deceased are desired, a direct burial or direct
cremation can be arranged for under $1,000. In a 2014 survey, the
average Yangon funeral costs $7,775. This is based on the most
commonly selected items for a traditional funeral, which includes a
casket and vault. However, it does not include cemetery costs in
Yangon. Grave space, a grave marker, and opening/closing the grave can
easily cost another $1,500 to $2,500. Therefore, a typical traditional
funeral and burial cost is likely to cost at least $9,000.
Beginnings of FFSS:
It is an interesting story how I turned out to be an undertaker from being
a celebrity. It all stated in early 2000, and at that time, funeral expenses
in Myanmar were very expensive. Middle class families could not afford
a decent burial for their loved ones. Free Funeral Service Society (FFSS)
in Yangon was founded by the unique effort of prominent film director
and author U Thu Kha. U Thu was sick and had to be admitted to a
hospital in 2000. An old woman was also admitted that day; she shared
the same ward with U Thu Kha. While confined, he observed the family

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

of the woman who always visited and took care of her ever single day.
One day, the doctor told her family members that they cannot do
anything for the woman anymore and that they can just bring her home.
The doctors had given up on her.
U Thu Kha noticed that her family members stopped visiting her since
then. She passed away five days later. Her body was cremated along
with other unidentified bodies. U Thu Kha asked why her family
members mercilessly left her alone in the hospital. He discovered that
her family was extremely poor; they unburdened their feelings to him
about how they loved their mother and wanted to bring her home but
they could not afford her funeral expenses.
Because of what he has experienced in the hospital, Thu Kha was
inspired to start the Free Funeral Service Society. At that time, there was
a charity group founded by Lu Htu Daw Ama in Mandalay named
Bhramaso which means the four cardinal virtues: love, compassion,
rejoicing and detachment), which offered free funeral services to the
poor. My wife wanted to establish a similar charitable endeavor in
Yangon. My wifes aunty, Daw Hla Myat was a patron of that
organization. My wife and I made some donations to her aunts charity.
By pure coincidence, my wifes increasing interest in free funeral
service activities of her aunts organization led us to decide to
collaborate with U Thu Kha. I used my personal resources to help
establish FFSS. I felt grateful to my audience for their unwavering
support during my 10 years as an actor. The income had also allowed me
to send my son and daughter to school.
In 2001 January 1, the FFSS started offering its services on request,
regardless of social status, nationality, religion, or race. My wife and I
helped in the operations of the organization. I carried the coffin and
drove the hearse to transport the first body for cremation in the
cemetery. The second body was transported by my wife, Shwe Zee

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

Kwet, who became the first woman to drive a hearse. Most of the people
in Myanmar are extremely superstitious about funerals. Authorities did
not allow hearses to drive through neighborhoods or through streets
marked by signs stating No hearses allowed.
Some of my show-business friends were initially shocked to learn that I
carried coffins at funerals: a task often shunned by the superstitious and
conservative thinkers. Eventually they started to refuse to co-star with
me in the films because they strongly believed that my work with the
dead would mean bad luck to them.
The actor turned humanitarian worker
During one summer holiday at a Buddhist literature camp, my daughter
and son asked Aung San Sayardaw where actors and actresses went after
they died, to heaven or hell? Sayardaw answered that they would go to
hell. Sayardaw explained that actors and actresses make people cry,
angry and laugh, which are misdeeds. I was terrified and feared the
prospect of hell. Indeed, this led me to participate in accomplishing
social obligations and worthy meritorious deeds.
When I started my charitable endeavor, Sayar Gyi U Thukha once
preached to me: Do you know who the President of France is? Do you
know who the Prime Minister of Italy is? My answer was No. He
continued, Do you know Charlie Chaplin? I said Of course, I do.
He said, Charlie Chaplin was a world famous comic actor. He used his
prominence as a worldwide icon to be effective in his charitable
endeavors and social obligations. You need to follow his path. Thus I
started using my prominence for charitable endeavors, social obligations
and meritorious deeds.
Before long, many civil society groups involved in charitable work
emerged from all over Myanmar. Another positive result was how the
public became less superstitious and skeptic about helping the poor and

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

breaking taboos. People began to ponder the fact that even a famous
actor like Kyaw Thu willingly did such humanitarian works; there was
no reason that others could not do the same. Young people across the
nation started to devote time for charitable endeavors and social
obligations.
The expansion of FFSS:
Our society started undertaking up to forty to sixty funerals a day.
People are now dying younger because of unhealthy lifestyles and the
skyrocketing costs of healthcare.
To this challenge, FFSS was expanded to Thukha Charity Clinic where
free healthcare service was available for the poor with the help of
volunteer doctors, medical specialists and surgeons. Similar medical
clinics and dispensaries were established in Pyay, Pegu, Kyobingauk and
Pe New Sein regions as well. The clinic offer free healthcare service to
everyone. Medical equipment and medicines were also supplied to free
clinics in the provinces.
Thukha Charity Clinic continues to treat more than two hundred patients
each day. With its intention to develop a better informed and healthconscious public, the clinic set up the Thukha Ah-lin library and a free
educational and vocational training school. Volunteer trainers teach
courses on Buddhist literature, English language skills, accounting,
management, hospitality, computers, nursing, and emergency search &
rescue. Upon graduating, eligible students who could not afford further
studies were provided full scholarships to study medicine in a university.
Financial assistance was also provided to the volunteer teachers in
monasteries. I myself had not graduated from school. During my second
year in the university, I eloped with my wife and we got married. On my
final year, I became a movie actor during and decided to drop out. The
reason why I made a tremendous effort in offering free education was to
help the young generation finish their studies and avoid dropping out of

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

school.
Challenges and adversities:
The emergency rescue team and ambulance service was established to
help people who need urgent medical attention. Offering this service has
been challenging at times. It was in a monastery in Thingangyun
Township where we started our mission. In the beginning, we were
using old vehicles for our activities. But with a dramatic increase of
donations from the local public who found our humanitarian mission
gaining the trust of the people, but we drew unwanted attention from the
authorities. Despite obstacles put up by the authorities, nothing could
stop us from continuing our humanitarian efforts. The authorities tried to
stop our operations during the rescue and support efforts in the aftermath
of May 2008 Cyclone Nargis which completely devastated Burma's
Irrawaddy delta. Our head office and its facilities were ordered by
authorities to be closed. We were forcibly relocated from Thingangyun
Township to North Dagon Township in Yangon's outlying suburbs.
The relocation area turned out to be an abandoned garbage waste yard.
We were challenged to transform this waste yard into a place where we
could sustain our humanitarian efforts. When Thukha Charity Clinic was
established, the authorities ordered it closed unless we constructed a
drainage channel 5 inches in width and depth. It was a totally nonsense
order and I refused to comply with it. As a result, I was ordered to
appear in court. When I failed to make a court appearance, the court
eventually issued a warrant for my arrest. I turned a blind eye on that
warrant and released a strong statement during a media press conference
saying: We cannot waste the donations fund on this useless drainage
channel. Since then, interruptions by authorities gradually diminished. I
asserted the truth whenever I was faced with difficulties and setbacks.
Since I started Free Funeral Service Society in 2001, I have never
exploited the donation fund. I have lived on my own and never utilized

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

the resources of the society.

Sometimes I solemnly pledge the truth in front of the brick tomb of Ba
Ba U Thukha. My strong faith in truthfulness helped me overcome all
adversities. Our societys main activities are based on humanitarian
deeds, compassion, willfulness and sympathy which are core values of
the God of every religion. It can be regarded as an insult to God if
political authorities try to negate these core values with misdeeds and
inferior attitudes.
Our Founding Father of Nation, Bogyoke Aung Sun once said a nation
which lacks humanitarian works and compassion will become a victim
of all sorts of great catastrophes. He was absolutely right. Our country
was continuously affected by floods, cyclones, fire hazards, war and
racial conflict. I wish our country to be free from greed, anger and
ignorance and to flourish with compassion. Myanmar people are very
skeptical. We love Bogyoke Aung Sun, we admire him. When he was
assassinated on July 19, the date was designated as Martyrs' Day. We
have celebrated his 100th birthday, but has anyone lived up to his
audacity of hope? We need to practice what he has taught. If we admire
Daw Aung Sun Su Kyii, we need to practice as she preached.
Applauding her alone is not sufficient. We need to live up to her
audacity of hope. Buddha taught us to be serene, peaceful, and
sympathize at all times. Praying is not sufficient, we need to follow and
practice his teachings. This is why I dedicated my life to social work.
I was not able to spend much time with my family when was a movie
actor. I spent much of my time at work. I was not a dutiful father and
husband to my family. As an actor, I no longer belonged to my family. I
belonged to my fans. But now, I spend more time on humanitarian work
and I belong to the people. I need to bring up the next generation who
will take up these duties before I die. I do not know when, where and
how my life will come to an end. I believe many clones of Kyaw Thu

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

will be born. A young generation is coming up. Now they all are doing
humanitarian efforts in flood-affected areas across the nation. They must
be empowered to accomplish the mission.
I considered myself as someone who arrived in this world to accomplish
something meaningful, some meritorious deeds for people, whatever
their position in society. With this perspective, I will continue my efforts
until my last breath.
I would like to conclude with my unwavering life motto, Let yourself
guide your way, make the most of yourself, accomplish your selfobligation, be true to yourself and write yourself down in history.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation